As monkeypox cases spike and Dallas County declares a health emergency, it is surprising even Dr. Nikhil Bhayani, an infectious disease physician at Texas Health Resources.
“This is pretty rare, even training in med school, and when we’ve been in residency and doing infectious disease fellowship training,” said Dr. Nikhil Bhayani, Assistant Professor at Burnett School of Medicine at TCU.
He talked about the number of people he has seen who have been exposed to monkeypox.
“We have seen just large amounts of people who’ve been coming into various entities within Texas Health, that it’s, I can tell you it’s more than a handful,” said Dr. Bhayani.
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Bhayani said he remembers hearing about monkeypox cases when animals were imported from West Africa.
“I remember, when I was training in Chicago, there was out outbreak in 2003 in Wisconsin and Illinois," said Dr. Bhayani. "It turned out that the pet shop had these guinea pigs that were from West Africa. The folks who purchased them had lesions that were suggesting monkeypox."
So far, health experts say most cases involve men who have sex with other men.
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But they stress, anyone can contract the virus, so it's important to understand the risk.
“If you are in contact with someone who has been infected with monkeypox, don’t be sharing the same towels, sheets, especially with someone in the same household, because exposure to someone with those lesions is how you can contract monkeypox,” said Dr. Bhayani.
The most important advice he can give: don’t panic. Be vigilant, and follow public health guidance.
Dallas County has the highest number of monkeypox cases than any other county in the state.
At last count, there are now 224 confirmed cases -- and 36 suspected cases.
